This year will mark the twelfth year that the Academy Awards have featured the Best Animated Feature category, and now the full list of submissions has been released, totalling twenty-one for this year’s entries for consideration.

Last year, Gore Verbinski’s Rango took home the Oscar, fighting off competition in the form of A Cat in Paris, Chico & Rita, Kung Fu Panda 2, and Puss in Boots.

With twenty-one films now officially submitted, we’re really looking forward to seeing the final list of nominees in January – with so many excellent possibilities, it’s going to be a very tough one to call.

  • “Adventures in Zambezia”
  • “Brave”
  • “Delhi Safari”
  • “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax”
  • “Frankenweenie”
  • “From Up on Poppy Hill”
  • “Hey Krishna”
  • “Hotel Transylvania”
  • “Ice Age Continental Drift”
  • “A Liar’s Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman”
  • “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted”
  • “The Mystical Laws”
  • “The Painting”
  • “ParaNorman”
  • “The Pirates! Band of Misfits”
  • “The Rabbi’s Cat”
  • “Rise of the Guardians”
  • “Secret of the Wings”
  • “Walter & Tandoori’s Christmas”
  • “Wreck-It Ralph”
  • “Zarafa”

Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph has had a terrific opening this weekend in the US, and the animation has looked brilliant. Frankenweenie has found plenty of love amongst critics, with many naming it a return to form for Tim Burton; Pixar’s Brave has also been very well received, by audiences and critics, alike; the stop-motion animation of ParaNorman was equally hailed by both viewers and reviewers; Hotel Transylvania topped the box office with record-breaking numbers in September; and though it hasn’t been released yet, From Up on Poppy Hill is a Studio Ghibli film, with the studio having one win and one nomination in the category over the past eleven years.

The nominees for Best Animated Feature and all other categories will be announced on 10th January, 2013, and we can’t wait to hear who makes the final cut.

The 85th Academy Awards, themselves, will then be held on 24th February, 2013, and you can be sure we’ll be following the proceedings live on the night, and we hope you’ll be joining us. For now, here is the full press release announcing the submissions.

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Twenty-one features have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 85th Academy Awards®. The 21 submitted features, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:

“Adventures in Zambezia”
“Brave”
“Delhi Safari”
“Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax”
“Frankenweenie”
“From Up on Poppy Hill”
“Hey Krishna”
“Hotel Transylvania”
“Ice Age Continental Drift”
“A Liar’s Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman”
“Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted”
“The Mystical Laws”
“The Painting”
“ParaNorman”
“The Pirates! Band of Misfits”
“The Rabbi’s Cat”
“Rise of the Guardians”
“Secret of the Wings”
“Walter & Tandoori’s Christmas”
“Wreck-It Ralph”
“Zarafa”

Several of the films listed have not yet had their required Los Angeles qualifying runs. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and comply with all of the category’s other qualifying rules before they can advance in the voting process. At least eight eligible animated features must be theatrically released in Los Angeles County within the calendar year for this category to be activated.

Films submitted in the Animated Feature Film category may also qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories.

The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 10, 2013, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.